


Part 1: Fragmented

by RamblingStray



Series: Final Fantasy XIV: Al'iana's Tale [1]
Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Final Fantasy XIV: Shadowbringers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-29
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:42:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22015060
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RamblingStray/pseuds/RamblingStray
Series: Final Fantasy XIV: Al'iana's Tale [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1584616
Kudos: 3





	1. Memories

It wasn't a battle. It was a massacre. Black wings and streaks of destructive aether filled the sky. There was no escape, nothing to do but fight. The fire crept ever closer. Last, ragged gasps and then-.

\---

Al'iana awoke with a start, head pounding as sunlight streamed in through the window, letting in harsh daylight as the sun rose over Ul'dah. Chasing sleep from her eyes, she sat up and looked across the room. Spear and armor were laid out across the table in the room she had rented from Momodi. Glinting in the light, they seemed to almost reflect whatever nightmare had gripped Al'i in the throes of sleep.

"What was that?" The Au Ra knew she was alone, but putting voice to her growing concerns was all she could do. Barefoot she padded across the room to the water basin on the dresser. Splashing a couple handfuls on her face, Al'iana thought back to recent days. More of her shattered, fragmented memories were starting to piece themselves together. More than had happened in the years since her appearance inside the Black Shroud. What had been the catalyst for such rapid change?

Had it been her chance meeting with that Roegadyn woman? It had certainly coincided well with that encounter, but connection and cause were two entirely different things. Abyllona Skaenrysswyn had been the bookish arcanist's name. She was a bright, vibrant idealist and Al'iana could not help but be heartened by the way the other woman glimpsed the world. It was their mutual desire to help the other. Al'i smiled in spite of herself, and spoke to no one as she dressed for the day.

"She's so much like you, holding this world to such a high standard. She expects so much from herself, too," her musing continued as she fitted the armored greaves over her legs. "Maybe that's why her opinion is so low. Maybe that one knows not how high she has set her own bar."

Clothing and armor on her person she straightened up, turning thoughts over in her head. "Well, mysterious person whom I keep referencing, what say we go share this recent development with the bookworm, yes?"


	2. Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Set two years after the Seventh Umbral Calamity, takes place roughly 3+ years before the first part, with another interlude to Al'i's past, whatever it may be.

"Please do keep up, Miss Castae'val," the Serpent officer's curt voice cut through the distracted haze Al'iana found herself in as she stared out over the training yard. The ringing sound of steel, the crash of metal, and the faintest snapping of wood filled her ears as the panoply of war spread out before her. She reluctantly turned to follow, willing each step forward and away from the sparring.

"Hey, Au Ra! Think fast!" Her head snapped around to see the spear tossed to her. On a reflex her hand caught it and her vision swam. She could hear dim noise around her as the world went black.

\---

_"We don't have anymore time! We have to scrap the mission, girl!" The voice of her friend yelled out over the din of battle. It was interspersed with the sounds of coughing from their comrades, who were picking themselves up from where the blast had scattered their ranks. Flicking her eyes over the lines, and then skyward, she let out a sigh._

_"We gave them our word. One way or another this is going to end. Get the wounded to the rear. Anyone who can still fight, follow me!" Picking past impacts and through the edges of the battlefield was not easy, but one thing her team had always been adept at was finding their mark. If they got this one, it would spell the end of the conflict, and she could just make out the glint of silver armor up ahead._

\---

"Yield! I said I yield!" Sense slowly returned and dragged Al'i back to the present. Looking down, she was above an Elezen in a Twin Adder uniform. His green eyes shown with fear and concern. The spear that had been tossed to the Au Ra dangled perilously close to his throat, so much so that the tip threatened to kiss skin a time or two. With shaky uncertainty she pulled the weapon away, using the butt of the spear to push herself upright, having pinned his weapon arm and torso with her legs and body weight.

Leaning heavily on the weapon she glanced around. No less than three of the bowmen in the yard had drawn on her, with others baring steel, but not threatening to attack. Heavy boots came towards the Auri Raen and she whirled to see another Wildwood Elezen making their way to her, the officer that was her "handler" in tow.

"Where did you learn to fight like that, little lady?" He looked down at her with a combination of both being impressed and sizing up an enemy combatant. His dark eyes seeming to bore into her soul as she stared up at him.

"Like all things, I don't rightly remember."

"Don't remember? Hah! You've forgotten more about fighting than this lot will ever know, Missy." He was all smiles now and the sounds of weapons being put away could be heard over his boisterous laughter. "Why don't you hold onto that spear and we talk about seeing what you're fully capable of, yeah?"


	3. Connections

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Al'i meets a figure that might be someone from her past, and we jump back to mostly present day (around the A Realm Reborn time, to be precise.)

Limsa Lomina was always a beautiful place to Al'iana. Whenever she passed through the city she'd climb as high up in the streets as she could, and just look across it into the ocean. The breeze blowing in fluttered and tossed white-streaked locks of blue hair and played at the hem of her wine-dark skirt. The twinkle in her eyes was almost palpable as she took it all in, thinking back on why she was here.

After a fruitless search through Ul'dah's records to see if she could find any clues as to her past, even just a fragment to snatch onto, she had taken advice from one of the Brass Blades to see the view in Vesper Bay. The journey itself was uneventful. As she reached the top of the stairs to where she had been directed, the dawning realization that she wasn't the only one there had come as a surprise.

He was a Hyur, a Highlander by the name of Rhyan Cross. Without much thought they had talked on the roof for hours. Where she had been working to recover her memories for three years, he had been in the same predicament for three days. He was an amenable sort, hiding a good heart under a rough exterior. Al'i found him to be the most intriguing person she'd met on her travels so far for one very simple reason.

Her eyes, bright crimson with the vibrant, glowing limbal of scarlet had stuck in his mind. For everything he had forgotten he claimed to recognize those eyes, and when she described the broken recollections of fire and smoke, of rampant aether and black wings against a burning sky, he remembered them too. For the briefest of moments the intensity of her desire to know, to finally understand, had pushed her to the point of wanting to shake the man. In that moment, a familiar voice drifted up from the shadows of her mind.

_"Eyes are a window to the soul, remember that always, Al'iana."_

She tore herself away, pulled back from the ledge of daring to dive deeper, to relive that life, and understood. It is not just her pain now. It was his too, and it was her job to keep harm at spear point. It was not in her nature to inflict suffering on another. Her feet had dragged heavily to the railing, and they conversed more. They resolved to travel together for a time, the first stop being the port she was now at, letting the smell of the sea fill her nose. Maybe it was the scenic vista, or possibly the idea of helping a new adventurer find their place in the world, but Al'iana was more optimistic than she had been quite a while.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the beginning of a series of post-/pre-RP scribblings taken from my time playing FF14. Al'i's path can and will differ wildly from the "canon" WoL path.


End file.
